Selected
Archive News Stories of 2008 from Krakow Info
Year
2008
New
Year’s Fallout
Three of Poland’s main cities, Krakow among them,
are at odds over New Year’s latest revelries. Vying
for the dawn-of-2008 merrymaking primacy, Krakow and
Wroclaw dispute each other’s numbers of participants
in New Year’s Eve open-air parties that both
municipalities threw, 190,000 and 200,000
respectively, each figure by courtesy of local PR men.
Anyway, they dwarfed Warsaw’s meager 20,000, which
ignited an outcry in the capital city’s town hall
that has publicly contested the above estimates.
Councilors
Free Taxis
Krakow’s City
Council has voted to scrap ceilings on taxi
fares for the city’s cabs from January 1, 2008. At
the same time it has decided to raise the number of
available taxi licenses for another 600. As Krakow
taxi drivers hail the former decision, they openly
despise the latter. The councilors believe that their
exercise in free market will result in lower fares and
better service.
Wonder
of Wonders
Natives of Poland
have voted the country’s seven wonders, i.e. sites
most worth visiting. Two of them are located in the
center of Krakow – Wawel
Hill with the Royal
Castle and Cathedral
and the city’s central Rynek
Glowny square together with the Old
Town that surrounds it. Another of the
Seven Wonders of Poland, the Wieliczka
Salt Mine, is situated on the outskirts of
Krakow.
British
Royalty in Krakow
British Prince Charles and his wife Camilla descended
on Krakow on April 29 to open a Jewish Community
Center at 24 Miodowa street. A five-story modern
eyesore adjacent to the 19th-century graceful Tempel
Synagogue, the building has come into existence thanks
to the Prince of Wales who persuaded the World Jewish
Relief, a UK’s charity, to finance its construction
in the wake of his previous visit in 2002. Prince
Charles himself nailed the mezuzah to the doorpost.
After the opening ceremony he had a kosher lunch in
the garden of Kupa Synagogue opposite.
|
